At least 18 people died and 36 were wounded when a gas tanker exploded outside Mexico City on Tuesday, an official said, raising the toll of the blast.
"The number is updated to 18 people dead and 36 wounded in the emergency in Ecatepec," Salvador Neme, the public safety secretary for Mexico state, wrote on Twitter.
The blast rocked a neighborhood of Ecatepec, north of the Mexican capital, in the early hours of the day, affecting 15 cars and 20 homes, Neme said earlier.
The truck was traveling on a highway linking Mexico City to the central city of Pachuca.
Television images showed charred vehicles on a highway, road cement barriers thrown to the side and buildings in smoke as firefighters and rescue workers sifted through the damage.
Local media reported that the explosion, which closed the highway between Mexico City and Pachuca, could have been caused by a collision.
A giant plume of smoke reportedly rose over the area, about 10km (6.2 miles) north-east of the Mexican capital, after the blast, which happened at about 05:00 local time (10:00 GMT).
Tuesday 7 May 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22438925
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